captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions good evening, from the tampa bay form in florida, i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: i'm gwen ifill, we welcome you to the republican national convention. tonight we will be bringing you the major speeches and other hatchings from the convention itself along with interviews with the delegates with party officials and other political observers and analysts. your all access pass to the convention extends beyond our newshour sky box to the floor. to the back room and on-line where you can find or 24 hour live stream coverage of events inside and outside the hall. down on this floor tonight here

in tampa as will be for all three nights of this convention is our own jeffrey brown. jeff, so they got this nomination process over with pretty quickly. they've selected their president and their vice president by acclimation and they're taking a break, is there any let down on the part of the dell gults that it's over except for the rest of the convention. >> brown: you know judy, the whole thing started a little strangely didn't it. a day's delay so a lot of people filling time. and then they got this thing going as you said earlier than we expected. they did it in a very very timely fashion i must say. they kind of raced through it. we were down on the floor and we would be talking to people in delegations and then they'd realize suddenly their state was suddenly coming up so things were happening much faster than i think anybody expected. but these are scrint scrimentd . ron paul supporters would yell out free ron paul because they

were getting a sense their guy wasn't get what he deserved. >> those that were watching when mitt romney went over the top there were a lot of people excited about what was going on that floor and it involves the people you never heard of like the governor of wisconsin. >> brown: well there was great excitement of course because that was the moment when it was official. i was actually right near scott walker, wisconsin is, you know, i was at a wisconsin breakfast yesterday and they were joking about what's in the water in wisconsin although they say what's in the beer in wisconsin. because scott walker, with his big recall election, we covered that one. big victory for him, big victory for republicans for the party and now of course paul ryan from wisconsin. that's the big news out of wisconsin. so they feel a great energy there. they maybe, maybe their state's in. >> ifill: i was going to say jeff, it used to be that the

state that would put the nominee over the top would be that the home state or one of the really critical swing states. but in this case, it was new jersey, which isn't at this point anyway, a swing administrate. it's looking pretty democrat but it is the home state 06 one of the major speakers tonight. >> brown: that was a head scratcher judy. i don't know why. i'm with you. normally it's scripted and for the particular state either the home state of the nominee or a very important state in the election is given that honor. didn't happen this time. i don't think anybody quite understood why. but yes, chris christie is going to be the keynote speaker and we'll see. that's the last big speech of the night. and the keynote speech is often part attack and part set up the nominee. and chris christie is perfectly capable of doing both. he's a great speaker, i think and we'll see what he delivers. but that's the one that we'll be watching after, after ann romney

of course. >> ifill: jeff, it's interesting, there's not a lot of drama in these conventions anymore. people don't sit on the edge of their seats waiting to see who is going to win the nomination but all the whys and wherefore's really matter. i wonder how much of those disgruntled wall of ron paul are going to matter in the end and whether they are being sidelined. >> brown: it just got real loud down here as you can hear. >> ifill: i can tell. >> brown: that's a good question. it's a little hard to tell, judy, about that one. there were people coming up to me as it's walking the floor all day and they wanted to talk about how they felt kiesmed of shut out. and you know, it was sunday when there was a very large 10,000 people rally for ron paul. and in a sense that was his moment and their moment. and they were very energized and they wanted to recognize what he's done. and he said to everyone, we've got a movement that walsh going

to maintain. maintain -- we're going to maintain. they're at the convention. how are they going to maintain it. that's not very clear because he's not going to speak here. he's got a lot of supporters here and you hear pockets of people, you certainly heard it during the roll call. i think i said it earlier on the 6:00 show. when his numbers were not read out by the secretary, there would be a chance free ron paul. so they're voicing their opinions, they're letting everyone know that they're here but it's not really clear that they can have much impact beyond that. >> you're right, jeff. i mean it's one of those interesting things. i happen to be up here this afternoon pretaping an interview with speaker john baron and spontaneously ronal paul showed up on the floor and he was mobbed by television camera cruise and by people. the delegates were here, it was around 2:00 the time in the day time convening of this convention. there's still a lot of excitement for him.

it's not going to matter in terms of mitt romney. he still gets the nomination. y the one who is running against president obama but symbolically it's an interesting thing to see. >> brown: absolutely. he's a folk hero to a lot of people. especially judy more important to young people. a lot of people i talked to here in the party. the key issue is how do you attract and maintain the interest of these young people who are attracted to ron paul and not make them feel outsiders as though they've been shut out. how do you keep them as part of the party. how do you throw them into members of the party and how do you, especially now, how do you use the youthful energy they have in this selection. so i think that's going to be a real test over the next couple months. clearly the convention is ground zero for that, at least for the first step in that. >thatwood. >> ifill: you can't see what we're looking at right now but that's ron paul from earlier in the afternoon on the floor of the convention. now thank you jeff, we'll be

back with you in a moment. judy and i however will not be alone up here in our sky box. as always we'll be joined by news hours regulars mark shields and david brooks. signed sealed and delivered on yours. is there some significance of the song, david, what do you think? >> there are some words ann romney is spin cling out and it looks pretty good. >> woodruff: what do you mean by that. >> there are some effects and it's sort of things if she can pull it off she'll bring the house down. >> ifill: is that what you do in the first night bring the house down. >> i think she will bring the house down, no question about it. she is the better half. the more human half, the more personal half.

it's a rather remarkable couple. but it take me back to the 1988 convention of george herbert walker bush was nonated. they talked about a gesture. you're going to see a kinder gentler mitt romney tonight. people in the hall do not have a sense of who he is. that's her job. >> the points for the delegates when you talk to them have been we're not warm and fuzzy, we just get the job done. they're not trying to oversell the kind her and gentler warm and fuzzy. >> ifill: we don't have to like you to elect you. >> as romney said in the interview you may not love me but i'll help the bottom line. >> ifill: it's the subject of a lot of conversation here and that is how much does mitt romney ne to warm himself up, need to make himself more likeable to american voters. and is it enough or is it enough just to say hey i'm the guy who can get the job done, i'm the guy who can go and create jobs we were just talk big in that last segment. >> 20 on 4 john kerry won all

three degates against george w. bush and he won re-election. peter hart, the democrat pollster contradicted by republicans either. made the analysis that people preferred i like the iq. they were more comfortable with george w. bush. it was in a comfort level. i think there are two steps for the president callenger. the challenger has to make the case against the president seeking re-election but at the same time he has to reach a comfort level. the only time that hasn't happened judy in my adult lifetime is richard nixon. >> woodruff: in 2004 the issue was the war. now it's the economy. does that make it a tougher hurdle for the president. not that the war -- it affected many families but this economy affects everyone. >> i think with the economy people have a much more tough minded mentality and a lot of it just get the job done. so i think it's a lower hurdle. romney's personal numbers are terrible and needs time.

and so done pretty well with pretty bad personal numbers. and if he can get it up and someone whose followed him, he's a much better person than most people think. the question is how much can they communicate. >> ifill: won of the themes tonight is they seem to be reaching out to people who might change their minds. we'll hear from the former congressman from alabama who was the second nomination of barack obama four years ago at the democratic national convention now has become a republican, moved to virginia and is speaking on behalf of mitt romney tonight. is there a realistic chance do the romney people think they had they can reach those folks who hasn't made up their minds who are disappointed in barack obama. >> i think that's a major theme of the romney campaign and several of their add ads latelyr their attack ads emphasize it's okay. >> ifill: outside spending. >> it's okay if you voted for barack obama.

you don't have to dislike him, he's made his best effort, he's a decent man, a good family man but it's time for a change. >> ifill: do you think that's affected. >> i think they are important hoods. it depends how well done they are. i think it's a reasonable message if you're trying to run against the president that's more popular than you are and who is highly regarded and has had higher personal numbers. i do think today this follows a great trop disk as jeane kirkpatrick former democrat who went to san francisco democrats, you know, charlie crist is coming to the democratic convention. >> ifill: returning the favor you could say. >> former republican going to charlotte. archer davis is a convert. >> ifill: one of the themes tonight is switchers. archer davis leads that group. there are a number of people

speaking who say they change their mienltdz. >> ifill: he's african american, he's a harvard graduate. he fan seed himself to be close to boke. he'broke -- barack obama. he's nor valuable in some ways isn't he. >> he's tremendously valuable. harvard doesn't have a voice. and so you know he's arguing for that, being african american and for being you know someone who is close. and you meet people if you cover this race, you meet people every week who said i voted for obama, i'm not going to do it this time. so those people are out there. if romney's going to win he's going to have to get a chunk. >> let's go back to jeff on the floor. a few minutes ago he talked to california congressman kevin mccarthy. he's the republican whip and that's an office not a tool in the house. jeff. >> brown: i'm here with kevin mccarthy one of the top leaderships in the republican congress. what do you think is the biggest challenge for the party here at

the convention? >> i think our challenge is just delivering a message. a message of what we believe america should look like and moving forward. a lot of people still don't know mitt romney, do not know his background and do not know the history of job creation he's done or the person of who he is from a character setting. i think tonight's going to start that message. in fact there's some sense he's had, if he's had a problem it's connecting i guess with people, right and letting them know who he is. >> i don't know so much of connecting who he is. what we're dealing with now is we have a current sitting president and we know what his economic policies are and it's driving us in the wrong direction. so the cowan tree is now massachusettsing and saying let's look at mitt romney. now is the opportunity to start laying out that message. you're going to get into the debate and get into the election. now it's a layout what he believes america should look like and what direction he'd taken in. there are big contrasts in the background of these two individuals from what he did for

job creation to what the president's done. i think those are good contrasts and good policy messages for the country to look at and debate and see which way they want to do. >> brown: i want to talk to you about your colleague paul ryan, right. one of the young, of your generation, i guess, right, young power 40usz an houses ando the nominee of vice president. what do you think that gives to the ticket? >> i think it gives so much enthusiasm. paul's one of the young guns, one of the organizations paul and myself and cantor started. one thing about paul when you get to know him, this is the man who has the courage, the heart can conviction and most importantly the brain to put us on a good economic path. with what's different with him is he does not demonize the other side. he does not go after character assassination. he talks about policy that debates it. when the country gets to know him they're going to fall in love with him and most important fall into the love with the idea of not politics but putting people first.

>> brown: what about when they get to know the details about his policy. there's a potential for controversy, right, over what he wants to do with medicare, what he wants to do with other government programs. >> you're going to love it because he's the only person out here that's willing to fight to save medicare. everybody else is ignoring it and it's going to go bankrupt. you look at the budget. the president has gotten no votes. the senate democrats don't even propose a budget. paul proposes a budget. he has the heart and courage to pick on big issues but offers solution. and he's fil willing to do it wh democrats as well. a lot of the legislation that helps save medicare is bipartisan. when the country gets to hear about the real plan they'll like it instead of the demonizing of the politics to try to destroy somebody for offering an idea. >> brown: one more thing. he does come from congress. now congress, with due respect, not all that popular. >> yes but he is so anti-congress. he's the guy that's been trying to change it. and i think that's what, if you look at his background and what

he's thought for. you look at his own district. he comes from a democrat district. he comes from a middle class democrat district that obama has carried. he's able to listen and reach independent democrats. i just hope he gets the opportunity to go across this country and others get to know him because they're going to really like him. >> brown: kevin mccarthy, thanks so much. >> thanks jeff. congressman mccarthy of course is a loyal lieutenant to house speaker john baron wh baron boew on the floor speaker of the house of representatives. >> delegates, alternates, ladies and gentlemen, the convention will be in order. it begins tonight with a

fundamental question. can we do better. the answer in my view is obvious. you bet we can. the american people are still asking the questions, where are the job. president obama only offers excuses instead of answers. his record is a shadow of his rhetoric. yet, he has the nerve to say that he's moving us forward and the audacity to hope that we're going to believe him. allow me to illustrate. i'm what you call a regular guy with a big job. i've got 11 brothers and sisters, indemnify da my dad and a bar in cincinnati. i grew up there mopping floors, waiting tables and tending bar. ably me when i say i know how to deal with every character who walked into the door. let me say right now some guy walked into our bar full of guys looking for work having a tough go of it and the guy said well

the private sector's doing fine. do you know what we do? that's right, we throw them out. think about this. a guy walks into our bar full of people paying more for healthcare, paying more for gas, paying more for everything and this guy would say, well, we're better off than what we would have been. well you know we'd do? we'd throw him out. now the guy walked into our bar full of folks who couldn't tell, couldn't tell you the last time they got a raise or their house was above water. and the guy said well we tried our economic plan and it worked. you know what we'd do. we'd throw him out. now let's say a guy walked into our bar and before he could say anything he overheard a regular telling his story. tissues outurns out this guy ral business, got involved in it while he was in school. then out of no where his

business partner died. they had just one customer. so he went through sleepless nights and close calls and he made it thank god, paid their dues proud of what they managed to do. a guy walks in the bar heard that story and says well, if you got a business, you didn't build that. well you know what we'd do with him don't you? we'd throw him out. by the way, that small business guy is my story. that was our business and we did build that. but you know, it could have just as easily been the story of anyonwhose built something from nothing. no guarantees, no government there to hold your hand. just a dream and the desire to do better. president obama doesn't get this. he can't fix the economy because he gn doesn't know how it was

built. so in 70 days when the american people walk into the voting booth, what should we do? should throw him out. because we can do better, we can do a lot better. and it starts with throwing out the politician who doesn't get it and electing a new precede whpresidentwho does. mitt romney comes from a family of builders. his father built houses, built businesses, built industry. george romney was a can-do kind of guy and he was fond of the whole saying that when things are at their worst, that's just the place and the time that the tide will turn. well delegates, this is that time and this is that place. [cheers and applause] we're here to preserve this country the same way we built it, by exercising our god-given right to set a new course. so who wetter t better to turn e

than a man dead gated his career for doing just that, for the stage and businesses and olympic games. president romney, boy i like the sound of that. president romney will keep his word and he'll keep his courage too. he'll keep faith with the idea that government exists to serve the people and that people who built this economy. mitt's job will build a stronger middle class through energy and dependence, schools and kids not where the teacher's union comes first, free trade, the balanced budget and an answer to the uncertainty and the tax hikes that threaten small businesses. it's a big job. so we're fortunate that myth hat chosen his running mate by rooting out and fixing washington's first habits. when i met paul ryan he was a

student at miami, ohio volunteering for my campaign for congress. soon he will be our party's nominee for vice president of the united states. who says this isn't the greatest country on earth? [cheers and applause] you know they call this america's come-back team. i need a good come-back, i need some true believers. if you believe we can do better, if you want your children and our children to have a stronger more prosperous america, then mitt romney and paul ryan need your help. because we cannot turn this tide only though if all of us are all in all of the time. all the way until the 6th of november. it starts here with the convention that will lead to victory for our party and more importantly victory for our people and a great cause of freedom. god bless you. [cheers and applause]

>> those were the remarks of house speaker john boehner, just concluded a few moments ago. right now we're going to join in progress priebus, the chairman of the republican party after chairing the gop. >> he just asked how can i help. that's the mark of a true leader. a humble focus on getting the job done. mitt romney spent his life turning around failing enterprises. america needs a turnaround, specifically we need barack obama to turn around and go back to chicago. [crowd cheering] guys, let me tell you about my

friend paul ryan. a man of true integrity, he doesn't descend into the gutter politics of the other side. he rises above it and charts a better path. he's my buddy, my congressman. and i can't wait to call him our next vice president. and hey, won't it be nice to have a second in command who can spend his days doing more than just prying his foot out of his mouth? paul and janet's three children are the lights of their lives. and congress. paul doesn't worry about his political future. he worries about the future of his children in the same way sally and i worry about the

future of our two kids, jack and grace. their future is in jeopardy because president obama has added $5 trillion to the national debt for all of our children to pay off. that's unacceptable. our founders didn't declare our independence, only to see us become dependent on the borrowed money of foreign nations. we still have time to chart a better course. if barack obama gets four more years, it might be too late. we're not just spending borrowed money, we're living on borrowed time. look at the record of the outgoing administration. 23 million americans struggling

for work. 42 months of unemployment above 8%. the worst jobs record since the great depression. it's time to elect mitt romney show we can get moving on the great america come back. [cheers and applause] now, the obama appall jitionz ie maybe stream media say it's not his fault. we have news for the media. we knew that things were bad, but that's no excuse for making things worse. four years ago, barack obama was an unproven leader. well today he's proven himself.

he's proven that he's not up for the job. mitt romney and paul ryan will be up to the job on day one. [cheers and applause] like paul ryan, i'm from wisconsin, where republicans have done pretty well in recent years. well here's why. because we govern like we campaign. we made promises and we kept promises. that's what americans want. leaders of their word. well, president obama, as we all know, is a man of many words but he's not a man of his word. he broke his promise to cut the deficit in half. and he broke his promise to fix the economy.

and adding insult to injury, he actually attacks success. this president looks down on american free enterprise. as speaker boehner just said, the president said if you got a business, you didn't build that. we do build it, right? [crowd cheering] that makes me think, that makes me think that barack obama has a problem with the american dream. i grew up in a place called cause kenosha, wisconsin. my dad was an electrician and he retired from the unified school district.

you know when we drove through the town, he didn't point to that big beautiful house on the corner, and my dad didn't say hey, look at these lousy people over here. he did what every one of your parents did, he said listen up, pal. if you work hard and you go to school, you're going to be in that house. and mom and dad, well, we pray that it's three times bigger. no parent in america, democrat or republican wants the kind of negative glass empty view of america that president obama is trying to sell. we're the party that celebrates success. we're the party. we're the party that believes in the